Letter from Wales: Lobbying, CBI Wales style!

by Julian Ruck

It is fair to say that the lobbying of MPs and Lords is a process of, “this is what we want, so let’s have it.” And nothing wrong with this, except when corporate interests get too close to government and brown envelopes are passed across the occasional parliamentary desktop.

Bearing the above in mind and accepting that ‘influence’ forms part of the usual ebb and flow of decision making, one is compelled to consider the position of CBI Wales’ own director and indeed the antecedents of her back up team.

Emma Watkins, said director, originally worked as a political researcher for two different Assembly members in the National Assembly for Wales during its first four years – nothing like starting on the shop floor for a career as a fully paid up aspirant of the Taffy political class, is there? She is now a member of the secretary of state for Wales’ business advisory group, the Welsh government’s council for economic renewal, Carwyn’s airport taskforce (I’m told the director is about to close a deal on a reconditioned fleet of Sopwith Camels for the new ‘Carwyn’s Carriers Airline’), the Wales employment and skills board as well as a number of other Welsh establishment bodies. Certainly gets about does our Emma and I wonder how many of these ‘memberships’ are voluntary?

You would be forgiven for thinking that maybe this is taking “influence” and “big tent” politics a little too far and a tad ‘too close’ to the Welsh government, particularly when one bears in mind the so-called, and often operatic claims, by the CBI of independent lobbying in the interests of UK industry and business or in this case Wales plc?

High up sources in the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, have expressed their frustrations and anger at what they see perceive as special treatment being meted out to Carwyn’s CBI Wales in respect of taxpayer grant and subsidy (I can’t imagine why?) but then they are just the trinket stall holders outside the big tent, so what can they expect?

The Crachach virus strikes again then.

Naturally Ms Watkins is a Welsh speaker, was schooled in Wales and attended the elite Crachach madrassa of business studies at Carwyn’s centre for public sector excellence ie Cardiff University. Oddly enough most of her team are of a similar calling (as indeed are many of Carwyn’s supplicants), what a surprise. It is perhaps less of a surprise when one considers the fact that Wales is one of the lowest performing economies in Europe and as for a private sector, Wales would have trouble competing with a Brazilian shanty town.

The pervasive “Wales for the Welsh” madness that enjoys such extravagant support from the grandees of intimate Welsh public life, insists on white, middle-class, Welsh speaking, Welsh schooled and Welsh degree’d natives to carry out its will. Outside talent? Don’t be ridiculous, insular mediocrity and absurdly low grade apprentices of professionalism are the name of the game, here in Wales.

The words “equal opportunity” are nothing more than an outburst of obscene graffiti plastered all over some Cardiff Bay wall.

Finally, I must quote Auden,

“….two peoples fanatically at odds,

With their different diets and incompatible gods,

‘Time,’ they had briefed him in London, “is short. It’s too late

For mutual reconciliation or rational debate:

The only solution now lies in separation….”

Carwyn’s Labour is not your Labour, Ed. Take a red hot scalpel to it and have done, it will cost you votes on a grand scale.

NB Three requests for comment were made to Emma Watkins. Not one of these requests was even acknowledged let alone responded to. Of course, such blatant evasion demands the question: what is CBI Wales hiding?

Julian Ruck is an author, columnist and Freedom of Information campaigner. He also makes contributions to both Welsh and national broadcasting and media

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12 Responses to “Letter from Wales: Lobbying, CBI Wales style!”

“I wonder how many of these ‘memberships’ are voluntary?” You could probably have found out by googling the bodies concerned. Couldn’t be bothered?

“maybe this is taking “influence” and ‘big tent’ politics a little too far and a tad ‘too close’ to the Welsh government”. Welsh Labour Government – damned if they don’t engage with private sector representatives, damned if they do?

“High up sources in the Federation of Small Businesses Wales, have expressed their frustrations and anger”. So your entire rant is based on the resentments of some anonymous FSBW bod? Objective – not.

“insular mediocrity and absurdly low grade apprentices of professionalism are the name of the game, here in Wales”. No evidence cited to support this. Just another bitter and twisted whinge?

“Carwyn’s Labour is not your Labour, Ed. Take a red hot scalpel to it and have done, it will cost you votes on a grand scale”. This is the most foolish of all your observations. You may hate Welsh Labour, but surely even *you* should be able to see that Ed would welcome the election of all those Welsh Labour MPs (including regaining Cardiff Central, Cardiff North, the Vale of Glamorgan etc) if he wants to form a government in 2015?

“Three requests for comment were made to Emma Watkins. Not one of these requests was even acknowledged let alone responded to. Of course, such blatant evasion demands the question: what is CBI Wales hiding?” It wouldn’t occur to you that CBI Wales may be hiding nothing – but refuse to have anything to do with a hapless hack of such low esteem?

Not that I want to get into another flame-war in the comment section, but it is weird that there has been at least one glaring, factual error in each of Ruck’s last few pieces, yet when pointed out they are never corrected.

Also wonder why, if Ruck is one of LU most prominent writers, he did not participate at their fringe event in Brighton in any way.

I wish they would stop wasting money on the Welsh language when it is apparent that the people in Wales are not interested in speaking it. Why can’t they see this in the Senate – transparent walls work both ways……

“The truth on Cardiff Bay: How political power and influence was blatantly and systematically abused for almost twenty years so that vast sums of public money
could be used for corporate and private gain, and how the Welsh establishment and the Welsh media either acquiesced ,turned a blind eye, or was too scared of the culprits to defend the public interest.”

Not sure the word has no racist undertones – it’s at the very least clearly pejorative, and is used to mock and demean Welsh people. ‘Taffy’ does not have any connotations of powerful people running anything. Taffia, is a different matter, but ‘taffy’, like ‘jock’, is simply a derogatory little word used to mock Welsh people.

It’s not that difficult, ‘Mr Origami’ – there is no ‘Senate’ in Cardiff Bay. There’s the National Assembly for Wales, that meets in the Senedd, or chamber. The Welsh Government forms policies, which are ratified (or not) by the Assembly.

What evidence do you have to support the claim that the Welsh Government’s language policy puts the Welsh economy at risk of implosion?

“The term used to denote local gentry but 21st century crachach is the Taffia, the largely Welsh-speaking elite who dominate the arts, culture and media of Wales and to a lesser extent its political life.”

If I was part of the cost cutting team I would suggest stopping the huge mountains of unread and unwanted paperwork which is wasted each year in Wales. There is unnecessary duplication. If there was some opt out mechanism where English speakers in Wales could ask for English and Cymraeg speakers could ask for it in Cymraeg it could save a considerable amount of money that could be better used by the Welsh Government and local councils.

We need to form a lobby group, the waste on this scale must be tarnishing the”green” image of Wales.